US to send troops back to Syria

Move comes after President Donald Trump said he was bringing US forces home

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (R) with US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper during a NATO defence ministers meeting in Brussels. Reuters

The United States will strengthen its military presence in Syria to prevent oil fields captured from ISIS from falling back into the control of extremists, the US Secretary of Defence Mark Esper said on Friday.

His comments come after Donald Trump announced earlier this month that he was bringing US forces home, triggering a Turkish military offensive in northern Syria.

“The United States will maintain a reduced presence in Syria to deny ISIS access to oil revenue,” Mr Esper told a Nato press conference. He said it would probably include some tanks in Syria’s oil region, Deir ez-Zor.

“The mission in Syria remains what the mission in Syria began with: it's always been about defeating the ISIS coalition," he said.

Mr Esper said that Turkey, a Nato ally, had captured some escaped extremists who had previously been held by US-backed Kurdish forces.

Thousands of prisoners were being held in northern Syria, including some 2,000 foreign fighters. Kurdish forces said hundreds had escaped as they refocused on defending themselves from Turkey’s advance.

Turkey entered Syria to quash Kurdish militia who had been fighting ISIS but were viewed by Ankara as “terrorists” threatening its territory.

Jens Stoltenberg, the Nato secretary general, declined to comment on the plans of individual members of the 29-nation security alliance. The issue dominated the two-day meeting of Nato defence ministers in Brussels after Turkey struck a deal with Russia to patrol a “safe area” it wants set up inside Syria.

The high-level meeting was the first since President Recep Tayyip Erdogan launched the operation on October 9.

Nato is also seeking an image of unity when it holds a summit in London on December 4 to celebrate 70 years since its founding. The alliance has been shaken by Mr Trump’s criticisms of fellow members for failing spend as much on defence as Washington.